Isle of Man TT: Rasen rider Crowe sets personal best lap

Phil Crowe set a new personal best lap in Saturday's Superbike TT EMN-160606-150700002

Published:15:16Monday 06 June 2016

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Market Rasen racer Phil Crowe opened his 2016 Isle of Man TT campaign with the race of his life on Saturday.

Crowe recorded a finish of 36th in the first Superbike race with his quickest-ever lap around the course.

During practice week he steadily improved his lap times around the 37.73-mile mountain roads course and posted personal best times.

With riders setting off at 10-second intervals, Crowe’s starting position was due to be down in the mid-50s, but he was elevated up to 37th because his lap times had far exceeded expectations.

As the six-lap affair began, Crowe moved up to 30th place on the first lap, averaging 123.474mph, and upped the ante slightly on lap two with a 123.714 before coming into the pits for the first refuelling stop.

At half-race distance he was holding 30th, but dropped back as the race wore on to finish 36th at the chequered flag.

It was slightly further down the order than he would have liked, but Phil was pleased with his performance which included a best-ever lap time of 124.657mph on the final lap.

He said: “Well I made it home safe, but I am totally shattered from the Superbike race; my body is in bits.

“It wasn’t the finishing result we wanted as we had a small problem in the pit lane and also my visor popped off leaving the pit lane and I had to stop and put it back on.

“But on the upside we made a massive step forward and did a 124.7mph lap with lots more in hand. Bring on next week!”